Browse Items (55 total)

A newspaper article from The Baltimore Sun published on May 20, 1963. Written by Stephen A. Bennett, the article provides details Mercury-Atlas 9 (MA-9), the final manned space mission for Project Mercury. MA-9 launched from Launch Complex 14 at Cape…

A newspaper article, originally posted by The Associated Press, published in The Miami Herald on March 2, 1962. According to the article, a fragment of the Atlas rocket used for John Glenn's mission was found on a farm in South Africa. South African…

Dr. Cal Fowler (1929-2013) received this congratulatory telegram from Lew Emmerich, a General Dynamics Program Director based out of San Diego, California. Emmerich was involved in America's space program from Project Mercury to Project Apollo, and…

A press release announcing that astronaut Gordon Cooper (1927-2004) was at the General Dynamics/Astronautics plant in San Diego, California, to inspect the Atlas rocket that would carry his Mercury mission into orbit. Also in attendance was Dr. Cal…

A program to a dinner dance in honor of John Glenn's (1921-) orbital flight on Friendship 7 (MA-6), which occurred on February 20, 1962. The dinner, was sponsored by the Launch Team (which was generally composed of National Aeronautics and Space…

A chart showing the four original configurations of the Atlas family of missiles: Intercontinental Ballistic Missile (ICBM), Mercury-Atlas, Atlas-Agena, Atlas-Centaur. The Atlas booster was originally developed as an ICBM in the mid-1950s. First…

The engineering management team in front of Mercury-Atlas 1, an unmanned test rocket Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCFAS) in Cape Canaveral, Florida, in July of 1960. This was the first test of an Atlas D booster along with a Mercury capsule. The…

John Glenn's (b. 1921) Mercury-Atlas vehicle (MA-6) lifting off the launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 14 (LC-14) on February 20, 1962. This was the first manned flight of a Mercury-Atlas spacecraft, which occurred after a…

Photographed on the left is Günter F. Wendt, who was in charge with launch pad preparations, with astronaut Gordon Cooper (1927-2004), photographed in a space suit, at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 14 (LC-14). It is not known…

Years after his historic Mercury-Atlas 9 mission, astronaut Gordon Cooper (1927-2004) autographed this photograph of himself for the U.S. Space Walk of Fame Museum in Titusville, Florida. During his Faith 7 flight, Cooper orbited the earth 22.5…

Gordon Cooper (1927-2004), the astronaut aboard the last flight of Project Mercury, observing capsule preparations at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 14 (LC-14), as unidentified others look on. Cooper was to become the last American…

Major General Ben Ivan Funk (1913-2012), of the U.S. Air Force, presents citations noting service to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) space program to aerospace engineer T. J. Joseph O'Malley and Cape Canaveral Air Force…

Gordon Cooper (1927-2004) completed his 22.5 orbit flight in the Faith 7 Mercury spacecraft by manually landing in the Pacific Ocean on May 16, 1963, closer than any other flight had landed with reference to the recovery ship. A dehydrated Cooper,…

The stainless steel skin of an Atlas booster is displayed after recovery. This debris is suspected of being part of the Atlas used to boost John Glenn (b. 1921) with his Friendship 7 spacecraft into orbit. The skin is in such a degraded condition,…

A group of launch crew members in front of the Sigma 7 Mercury-Atlas launch vehicle at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 14 Launchpad. Photographed, from the left to right, is: an unidentified individual, of Pan American Safety

B. G. MacNabb, General Dynamics/Astronautics director of operations, greeting Mercury 7 astronaut Gordon Cooper (1927-2004) during a practice, the day before a launch was scrubbed or launch day at the launchpad at the Cape Canaveral Air Force…

A contemporary newspaper article about Gordon Cooper's (1927-2004) spaceflight, including an interview with Dr. Calvin D. Fowler, the man who launched him. In particular, the article discusses Cooper's most recent spaceflight on the Atlas 130D, the…

In the final launch of Project Mercury, the Atlas launch vehicle sits on its side before being fully assembled and lifted vertically on the gantry. The Atlas was America's first rocket capable of lifting a man into orbit. Faith 7's Atlas booster…

In the first photograph, astronaut Gordon Cooper (1927-2004), pictured in the center, standing with National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) managers on the right and contractor managers on the left. Then men are pictured in front of the…

Electronic equipment at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 14 Blockhouse, mounted in racks similar to the way modern computer servers are, was used to monitor the rocket during Project Mercury launches. Instead of digital readouts…

tHE Launch Control Simulator at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 14 Blockhouse. This console likely allowed the launch team in Launch Complex 14's blockhouse to practice countdowns under simulated conditions. This could have…

The television Control equipment at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 14 Blockhouse, mounted in racks similar to the way modern computer servers are, was used to monitor the rocket during Project Mercury launches. Instead of digital…

Liquid oxygen tanking equipment at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 14 (LC-14) Blockhouse, mounted in racks similar to the way modern computer servers are, was used to monitor the rocket during Project Mercury launches. Instead of…

Launch Conductor Dr. Calvin D. Fowler posed for these publicity photographs on May 2, 1962, leading up to the launch of the Aurora 7 Mercury-Atlas 7 orbital mission, manned by Commander Scott Carpenter (1925-2013). These images are part of a…

Launch Conductor Dr. Calvin D. Fowler posed for this publicity photograph on May 2, 1962, leading up tothe launch of the Aurora 7 Mercury-Atlas 7 orbital mission, manned by Commander Scott Carpenter (1925-2013). This image is part of a series of…

Launch Conductor Dr. Calvin D. Fowler posed for these publicity photographs on May 2, 1962, leading up to the launch of the Aurora 7 Mercury-Atlas 7 orbital mission, manned by Commander Scott Carpenter (1925-2013). These images are part of a…

Electronic equipment at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (Cape Canaveral AFS) Launch Complex 14 (LC-14) blockhouse, mounted in racks similar to the way modern computer servers are, was used to monitor the rocket during Project Mercury launches.…

Electronic equipment at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (Cape Canaveral AFS) Launch Complex 14 (LC-14) blockhouse. The equipment was mounted in racks similar to the way modern computer servers are and was used to monitor the rocket during…

During a launch of a Mercury-Atlas mission, these workstations were occupied by workers who monitored critical systems on the rocket and maintained lines of communications with essential locations around the world. Instead of digital readouts and big…

A group photograph of the Mercury-Atlas launch management team. Left center in the back row is Dr. Calvin D. Fowler, who launched astronauts Scott Carpenter (1925-2013), Wally Schirra (1923-2007), and Gordon Cooper (1927-2004). The other men in the…

After the successful completion of the final manned Mercury-Atlas flight (MA-9), General Ben I. Funk (b. 1913), who was the U.S. Air Force general in charge of manned rocket development, sent this letter of commendation to Dr. Calvin D. Fowler,…

Wally Schirra (1923-2007) was the fifth American astronaut in space and the third to orbit the Earth. On October 3, 1962, Dr. Calvin D. Fowler, who was the manager and launch conductor for Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 14 (LC-14),…

As the third Mercury 7 astronaut, John Glenn (b. 1921) became the first American to orbit the Earth on February 20, 1962. On February 23, he returned to Patrick Air Force Base (Patrick AFB), accompanied by Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson…

A newspaper article about a meeting that occurred on October 9, 1962, before the launch of Walter "Wally" Marty Schirra, Jr. in Sigma 7 between representatives of the Aerospace Corporation; the Burroughs Corporation; Rocketdyne, Inc.; General…

Gordon Cooper (1927-2004) was the sixth American in space and the fourth to orbit the Earth. Cooper flew in the Faith 7 spacecraft for Project Mercury. At the time, he was in space for 34 hours, longer than any American. With his second space flight…

A newspaper article published by The Plattsburgh Press-Republican on October 4, 1962. Dr. Calvin D. Fowler was the manager of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 14 during the final three launches of Project Mercury. In this newspaper…

Dr. Calvin D. Fowler with others at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 14 (LC-14). Dr. Fowler is photographed second from the right. Dr. Fowler was the manager of Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 14 during the final…

A newspaper article on President John F. Kennedy (1917-1963)'s visit to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 14 (LC-14) on September 11, 1962. Presidents typically use such visits to gain firsthand understanding of important programs.…

The Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 14 (LC-14) Blockhouse was where Mercury-Atlas rockets were launched using analog electronic equipment to monitor various aspects of the rocket. One might note that these Project Mercury…

Used during the launches of the Mercury-Atlas rockets—from the first American to orbit earth, John Glenn (b. 1921), to the last Project Mercury flight with Gordon Cooper (1927-2004), Jr.—this was one of the workstations in the blockhouse at…

The Launch Tote Board at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 14 (LC-14) detailed the rocket launches carried out at the facility. Posted outside of the blockhouse, it showed the vehicle type, designation and launch date.

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 14 (LC-14), where some of the United States' first astronauts were launched into space, had a heavily built concrete and steel blockhouse which housed the actual rocket firing button. This blockhouse…

High-profile projects, such as Project Mercury, typically get a great deal of attention from Presidential Administrations. This presidential visit occurred on September 11, 1962, a month before the fifth Mercury flight. President John F. Kennedy…